St. Louis County police released body cam footage on Saturday after two officers fatally a shot an armed man they said had charged at them with a knife on Friday night.
Police said they fatally shot Thaddeus McCarroll, 23, after being called by his mother to their Jennings residence at around 9:20 p.m. local time because he was acting strangely.
As St. Louis County Police Tactical Operations Unit negotiators tried to calm McCarroll, he "charged the officers at a full run with the knife still in hand," police said in a statement to BuzzFeed News.
"This is another tragic situation where police officers had no other option than to use deadly force against an armed subject," St. Louis County Chief of Police Jon Belmar said in a statement. "My officers took every precaution to safely resolve this situation, starting with over an hour-long attempt at negotiations with the subject."
Police said they initially fired a "less lethal round" at McCarroll in a failed attempt to disarm him after he began walking towards officers. It was then, police said, that McCarroll charged at the officers.
"The officers resorted to less lethal force to try and bring the incident to a safe conclusion with no loss of life, but this individual made the decision to refuse these attempts, and charge at officers with a deadly weapon," Belmar said.
In body cam footage released by police on Saturday, McCarroll can be heard telling a police negotiator to leave the scene, before shooting breaks out.
View this video on YouTube
Police said McCarroll's mother told them her son had been talking about going on a "journey" and a "mission," while also making references to a "black revolution."
"Officers could see the subject through the front window of the residence, walking around the inside of the house with several knives and a Samurai sword," police said in a statement.
Police said McCarroll died at the scene, despite efforts from a medic to revive him.
Police officers in St. Louis have come under national scrutiny since the fatal shooting of teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson in August last year.
Update: Saturday afternoon a group of protesters gathered in Jennings to protest McCarroll's death.
A reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweeted that the protest included about 50 people.
About 50 protesters now on street & sidewalk outside Jennings substation. #ThaddeusMcCarroll
Protest. Jennings. #ThaddeusMcCarroll
Protest at Old Jennings PD station 63136